Meet Kathryn Nelson

Today we’d like to introduce you to Kathryn Nelson.

Hi Kathryn, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
I am a former teacher of 14 years and I’ve worked as a professional actress for all of my adult life. My undergrad and master’s degrees were in special education and I’m a National Board certified teacher. After “retiring early” from teaching and while focusing on being a stay at home mom to our two young daughters, I played around with hosting homes on Airbnb and found success there.

In 2018 Airbnb kept sending me emails encouraging me to create an experience (a class or tour), since they had just launched experiences on their platform. I ignored them for a while, since it sounded like you had to be an expert in candle making or cooking or things like that; but eventually, with enough peppering and prodding from them, I bit the bullet and created a progressive picnic featuring several of my favorite hidden gems in Austin, like Mount Bonnell.

Around the same time, I joined a 14 weeks long book study on Julia Cameron’s The Artists Way. One of my earliest acting teachers had introduced me to her books, and this was my third time undertaking her journey. Each time previously, something huge had come out of the process, like landing my dream role of Audrey in Little Shop if Horrors – twice! Most people report experiencing something similarly mind-blowing and often even life-changing with this book, so you have to be willing to jump blindly into one wild ride!

It’s never just a passive read, especially when you participate with a group. Before I knew it, I had developed my progressive picnic into my Keep Austin Weird Scavenger Hunt early on in the process of the book study. I’ve always had a knack for curating the most unique itineraries when traveling, and so I capitalized on that keen interest and ability. It was just going to be a hobby for me. The first month I made $100, and after that it really took off. I quickly learned that people apparently crave adrenaline pumped activities when they travel. By late 2018/early 2019, I had expanded to seven other Texas cities. By early 2020, I was operating in about 20 cities total and had partnered with Samsung and other companies to sponsor some of my events.

Then the pandemic hit suddenly, and I lost my job overnight in March of 2020, since all traveling had come to a halt. I lost thousands of dollars in booked trips that had to cancel. I even collected unemployment pay for two months. I knew that my only choice was to shift, because wasn’t that true for all of us? I picked the brains of my husband, brother, colleagues, staff, and friends as to what they thought folks would enjoy. I sat down and wrote a virtual adaptation of our city scavenger hunts so that people could still access the fun from the comfort of their own homes.

Three friends met with me on zoom and quickly brought me up to speed with using that new-to-me program. I wrote and beta-tested my new virtual game eight times with former loyal city hunt customers, friends, family, and staff members. I eagerly took to heart and implemented all of their helpful feedback. I auditioned my game for a panel of Airbnb executives, and it was praised and accepted.

It went live on the Airbnb platform in late May 2020 and almost immediately became a global bestseller. I am so fortunate that my game has remained a constant bestseller ever since, allowing for an amazing amount of worldwide visibility. I added my first cohost in August 2020 and expanded my team front there. Our busiest day in our history was on December 18, 2020, when we hosted 42 virtual games! Business has remained quite steady since I launched that virtual game. I’m proud that I’ve been able to earn a living and provide for my family since launching my business in 2018 and certainly since the boom my company has been experiencing since the onset of the pandemic.

I have created additional successful virtual games and some trip planner online experiences for various cities as part of a new Airbnb pilot program, but Living Room Legends Scavenger  Hunt remains our touchstone game. While we especially brought isolated families and friends together during the early days of quarantine in 2020, about 98% of our clientele are now corporate teams who want to increase engagement, connectivity, and productivity among their remote workers. We have hosted companies from Apple to Netflix to Johnson and Johnson and everyone in between – even Congress several times! We have been featured in dozens of publications like Good Housekeeping, Travel + Leisure, Business Insider, Buzzfeed, etc.

In 2021 we expanded from 20 to nearly 125 total city scavenger hunts across North America. By this spring, we plan to add  up to 25 more cities. We will probably hold steady there for at least a while. Most of these hunts are remotely hosted by my team of live, interactive adventure coaches via text and are doing quite well! 25 of them additionally have their own local teams of in person hosts as well.

We love to see our guests engaging in wacky shenanigans in cities like Martha’s Vineyard, Chicago, Key West, New Orleans, Palm Springs and even Cabo San Lucas, etc. with the sole purpose of getting outside their comfort zones to get creative, make memories, share laughs, learn about hidden gems in magical towns, befriend the locals, and spread joy!

My profession has taken me to some incredible destinations. I’m so excited to be traveling to the Bahamas in a few weeks to scout out the area and to design an elaborate custom treasure hunt/boat race among various islands for a large joint bachelor and bachelorette party for which I was recently hired. I delight in the wide variety of unique custom events we’ve been hired to create and execute over the years. We are thrilled to often get the chance to work with such creative clients who come to us with so much vision, and we can always deliver!

Our day is full of laugh out loud moments and we love our jobs, because they feel more like play than work most of the time! It’s hilarious to watch and guide our adventurers, who will apparently do anything to earn points and bragging rights! I constantly feel like I’m back in the classroom teaching, because we are all just tall children, right? Life’s too short to be take it too seriously! Live out loud when you’re on vacation, and you’re sure to remember it and enjoy it more!

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I mentioned how I lost my job overnight and had to collect unemployment for two months when the pandemic hit. It’s been downright charmed at times, and I still have to pinch myself sometimes as to the tremendous response my virtual game received and continued to receive almost from day one.

Sure my business has had growing pains due to the rapid expansion we’ve been experiencing. I am thankful for the amazing professionals I’ve summoned to help: my business coach, my website’s SEO professional, the technical writer who is creating our company manuals and SOP‘s as we speak, and so many more fine people!

Above all, I’m extremely grateful for my dedicated and passionate staff of nearly 70 people and also for my worldwide tribe of fellow online experience hosts and other entrepreneurs whom I never would have met had it not been for the pandemic and the birth of online experiences.

I now have dear friends I’ve never met in person and who live in so many different countries. One day we all hope to have a huge reunion in an exotic country! I definitely could not do it without them! The line of work in which we find ourselves is not for the faint of heart, and we help each other with our common challenges we face on a daily basis and help each other to become better leaders and creators as a result!